


give a little light (to get a little love back)

by fromiftowhen



Category: The Rookie (TV 2018)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Honestly All The Happy Tags Because They Deserve It, Love, Sunrises, Surprises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:54:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25224217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fromiftowhen/pseuds/fromiftowhen
Summary: She used to dread getting off after night shifts. Sometimes, though. Sometimes getting off when it’s just hitting daybreak, right before the traffic really amps up and the neighborhood gets rowdy with kids running for bus stops, when it’s just quiet and birdsongy and still — sometimes it’s worth all the hassle.OR -- Tim and Lucy spend time together as the sun comes up.
Relationships: Tim Bradford/Lucy Chen
Comments: 12
Kudos: 130
Collections: Chenford Week 2020





	give a little light (to get a little love back)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi friends! Happy Chenford week! This is for the Anything Lucy! prompt, and I just want this sunshiney girl to be happy, so here’s a bit of that. 
> 
> Title from Sun Comes Up by Rudimental ft. James Arthur. 
> 
> Thanks to a blink-and-you-miss-it line, this could be read as a fourth part in the like it’s the only thing i’ll ever do series, but you can absolutely read it as a standalone as well. 
> 
> I’m fromiftowhen on Tumblr, let’s be friends!

Working the night shift is brutal. There are still a million calls, and if it’s possible, people are more wild at night, and if she has to run in the pitch black dark even one more time this week, Lucy might lose it. But she’s not a rookie anymore, and she has to pay her dues, she knows. So she over-caffeinates and grins and bears it. And mostly, if she’s being honest, she _loves_ it. _Lives_ for every heart-racing moment of it, because even with someone new at her side, it’s still the best job she can imagine. 

She used to dread getting off after night shifts, though, because her apartment complex was loud every second of the day, and she couldn’t fall asleep easily there. 

But she doesn’t worry about that anymore. 

Because the mornings that don’t find her sleepily exchanging kisses and good mornings with Tim in the quiet cab of his truck before he heads in for roll call and she heads out for sleep? Those mornings find her turning left instead of right out of the parking garage now, her body already anticipating kisses and sleepily-whispered good nights as she climbs into their bed. 

It’s _good,_ and it’s been good for a year plus, and Lucy, who would run when things edged toward the four month mark, who dated guys she knew she couldn’t commit to? It turns out she had more love to give than she ever imagined possible. 

And it’s so, so _good._

Except their schedules don’t sync as well as they’d like, his long hours in his sergeant position and her overnights, and sometimes, looking over at someone else in her shop leaves her with a visceral ache, leaves her hating night shift and all it entails. 

Sometimes, though. Sometimes getting off when it’s just hitting daybreak, right before the traffic really amps up and the neighborhood gets rowdy with kids running for bus stops, when it’s just quiet and birdsongy and still — sometimes it’s worth all the hassle. 

The house is quiet, the morning light just starting to seep in when she unlocks the door. Adding Tim’s house key to her key ring had felt like a big step, and officially moving in had felt like a leap, but none of it, not a second, had scared her. She’d been excited, so smiley her cheeks had hurt for days, their smiles both so big she hadn’t known where hers stopped and his began. 

There’s no lingering aroma of coffee or Tim’s woodsy body wash, and Kojo doesn’t greet her at the door as she lets herself in. She kicks off her shoes and hangs up her jacket, and still, no Tim. His sneakers are next to hers by the door, so she knows he’s not out for a run. 

She walks through the kitchen, past the bar where she sets her keys and purse next to his wallet, and down the hallway to their bedroom. 

(The first time she’d called it _their bedroom,_ before she even moved in, he hadn’t even reacted, like maybe he already knew it was.)

She turns the corner into the room and Tim’s back greets her, tan, toned bare muscle facing her from his side of the bed closest to the door. Kojo pops his head up from the mattress beside him, right where she was planning to cozy up. 

(“So even when I’m not here, this is your side of the bed?” She’d asked, late one night, early on. “You’re not just doing the whole ‘side closest to the door in case of an intruder’ man thing, right? Because I _don’t_ need—“

“I know you don’t _need_ that. This is my side,” he’d said, running his hand across his side of the mattress. “And this,” he’d continued, leaning up and over her body, his hands on either side of her waist, “is _your_ side of the bed.” And she’d rolled her eyes and let him kiss her, and usually now, “their” sides stayed empty, their bodies entwined in the middle and Kojo somewhere around their feet.)

It’s unusual he’s still in bed, even on his day off, but she’s not going to complain if this is the view she gets. She tears her eyes away to pop the button on her jeans, but his voice stops her. 

“Leave them on for a minute,” he says, rolling to face her and sitting up in bed. Kojo stands excitedly next to him, and his tags glint in the rising sun, but Tim’s words take her attention. 

She stops. “I’m sorry, did you just tell me to keep my clothes _on?”_

“Didn't like it either.”

“Do you feel okay? You’re not usually still in bed.” She sits down on the side of the mattress next to him and reaches out to touch his forehead, but he grabs her hand and laces their fingers together. 

“I feel fine. Kojo and I were up earlier. I just wanted to spend the morning in bed with you,” he says, and god, if she’d known on her first day of training that his smile could undo her so easily, she’d never have made it. 

“Good.” She leans in to kiss him, and he lets her. His body is warm and solid, and just like every time before, she wants to fall into him, wants to build a fort of sheets and pillows around them and spend the day doing nothing but this, but he pulls back.

“You sure you’re okay?” She asks again, letting her fingers trail down his cheek. He presses a kiss to her palm and smiles against her skin, nodding. 

“Yeah,” he whispers, and it feels like a promise, like the word carries more weight than it possibly could. 

“Okay. Cool if I take my pants off now and get in bed?” She starts to stand to do just that, but he tugs on her hand. 

“Hey.” His voice is quiet, and there’s an edge to it she hasn’t heard in a long time. She lets her eyes roam over his face, searching. He’s as handsome as ever, but he looks _nervous._

“Tim--” she starts, because they don’t do that thing where he doesn’t talk about feelings, but he shakes his head. 

“I love you,” he whispers, and he’s said it a thousand times, he said it _first,_ he whispers it against her skin every chance he gets. But it somehow always feels like the first time, that buzzy, sweet, happier-than-she-thought-she-could-be feeling. 

“I love you, too.” It’s automatic, but intentional. He smiles, but it’s shaky.

“Kojo got you a gift,” he says. 

She narrows her eyes. “Did he?” 

Tim nods. He reaches over and pats Kojo on the chest. “He’s been waiting for you to get home all morning.”

“Well,” she says slowly. “I’m home now.” 

“Yeah. You are.” It’s quiet and it warms her more than the slow sunrise coming in through the window behind her. The room is golden, warm-hues lighting his face, and it feels like a moment she wants to let herself memorize, to drink in and keep. 

“He’s historically an excellent gift giver,” she says, grinning. 

“Quite a compliment from you,” he laughs, and she reaches out to stroke Kojo’s fur, her fingers brushing against Tim’s. 

“What’d you get me, boy?” Kojo turns toward her at the sound of her voice, his tags jangling, and the sun catches them again. A glint of something especially shiny catches her eye, and she inhales quickly. 

_“Tim.”_ He doesn’t say anything, and she leans closer to look, just to make sure she saw right. 

It’s there, a delicate silver band nestled between Kojo’s tags, a diamond reflecting the sunlight and throwing rainbow prisms of color across the wall, across their faces and Kojo’s fur. 

Tim’s fingers brush her knee, and she shivers, overwhelmed from just the simple touch. 

“You’ll tease me forever if this is cheesy,” he says, and her laugh surprises her almost as much as the tears that immediately threaten to spill down her cheeks.

“No, I won’t,” she says, and he smiles, that sweet, disbelieving grin.

“Sunrise is my favorite time of day,” he says, glancing up out the window before meeting her eyes. “It’s beautiful, peaceful, the sun coming up feels like a new chance, like no matter how bad the day before was…” 

He trails off, and she nods, smiles, blinking away tears. She gets it.

“I didn’t always feel that way. And then you showed up, aggravating and _never_ quiet--”

“I thought you were supposed to be nice to me,” she laughs, sniffling. He leans in and kisses her, just a quick press against her bottom lip, and wipes at her tears with his thumb. 

“You’re sunrise for me, Lucy,” he says quietly, and she just smiles, watching him reach over to unbuckle Kojo’s collar. “Good job, bud,” he whispers, patting his fur. He slides the ring free and turns it over in his hand, the stone catching the light. 

“Marry me?” It’s quiet, hopeful, but confident. It’s all her favorite things about Tim and their relationship in a single, life-changing question. 

She smiles and leans forward into his space, presses her lips to his and kisses him until his cheeks are damp with her tears and his hand is tangled in her hair. She pulls back and presses a kiss to the corner of his mouth, her smile so wide she knows her cheeks will feel it for days. 

“Can I have the ring now, please?” She asks, laughing, but he shakes his head.

“You didn’t actually answer,” he grins, and she rolls her eyes.

“You’re a pain in my ass,” she laughs, leaning into him again. 

“Oh, are you _sure_ you want the ring, then?” He holds it up over her head, always a flirty tease, and she grins against his lips. 

_“Yes,_ Tim. I want the ring, I want it all,” she whispers, kissing the smile that matches hers. 

She pulls back to watch him slide the ring on her finger, pressing her forehead against his neck and her lips against his bare skin. 

Kojo presses his nose against her knee and she smiles, reaching over to pet him. 

“Did you know?” Tim asks, brushing her hair back behind her ear. 

She shakes her head. She hadn’t, at all. They’d talked about it, but only in the abstract, in a _would you get married again?_ kind of way, no pressure. And she knew it would happen one day, could see it in his eyes when he’d told her _yeah, I can see that happening,_ but she’d never thought the morning would lead her here. 

“Good secret keeping, bud,” he says, scratching Kojo on the top of the head. 

She runs her thumb over the ring and smiles at him. “Did you have help?” 

He laughs. “What, you don’t think I can pick out a ring? I’m _great_ at finding rings, if you’ll remember.”

“Couldn’t forget if I tried,” she smiles, bittersweet for just a moment. 

“Angela helped, but she kept picking out twenty thousand dollar rings, poor Wes, and I love you, but _maybe_ not $20K worth--” he laughs as she shoves him playfully. “Anyway, Harper had to be called in.” 

“Well, I love it, and you,” she says. 

“Good.” He twists the ring lightly on her finger and brushes his fingers over her wrist. “Angela kept trying to convince me to propose in public, but she knew it wouldn’t work. I think she just wanted to watch,” he says. 

“You’re not a public proposal person, and I’d have said yes anywhere… but this, _here,_ is exactly us. We can celebrate with everyone else later,” she says, pressing her palm to his cheek to lean in and kiss him, the light glinting off her left finger, perfect and bright. 

“Good,” he says again, and she smiles against his lips. 

_“Good,”_ she teases, pressing his body back against the mattress. She kisses him, like she does every morning, like she has a million times, and it feels exactly the same and perfectly different at once. 

The sun finally comes up around them and fills the room with light, and it bounces off her ring, distracts her enough that he laughs into the kiss. 

“Sorry,” she laughs, pressing her mouth to his neck.”It’s just so pretty.” 

He cards his fingers through her hair and she looks up at him. “Yeah, I know,” he says, quietly, like it’s not about the ring at all. He pulls her back into him and she goes easily. 

The sunshine dances across his face as she closes her eyes, and she feels warm, bright, _happy._

**Author's Note:**

> The Anything Tim! day, on 7/17, will be a bookend of sorts to this fic, just as a little spoiler. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! As always, comments and kudos are love!


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